I simply used today a 2B pencil and watercolour. I noticed that doing a wash on this Moleskine sketchbook, the paint stays longer on the surface compared to the cold pressed 300gr Arches watercolour paper for instance.The advantage is it leaves more time to move the paint around, a bit like on a cold pressed paper. The drawback is the paint once dried is more difficult to lift… I liked the imposing hat for this portrait !

Today I have decided to use a pentel brush pen to give a different feel to the sketch and paint bright colours. I really like to use black and white photos as they give you tonal values as well as more scope for your imagination.

After having been invited to do a 7 day watercolour challenge by Alice Cox Humphreys an artist from New Mexico through the Facebook worldwatercolourgroup, I have decided to do a portrait sketch inspired by photos from newspapers or magazines lying around .The rule is to nominate another artist everyday to do the same “to keep the watercolour flowing”…

I decided to sketch today in my moleskine sketchbook using an 8B graphite pencil and my prize winning small watercolour set which I got last year thanks to the public vote for best watercolour ( Hangar group show with over 800 visitors)

I remain with a still life subject for this post : Today , it is mainly about reflections and texture. I used salt in the wash to obtain the grainy feel of the blue glazed terracotta pot. I was inspired by one of my watercolour books which I keep referring to, for some ideas about techniques and to achieve certain effects. I hope this one is convincing…

Scarfs were the theme during last week’s watercolour class at the Hangar where I go regularly. I chose a bright and cheerful scarf that was on offer and made this still life with it wrapped around a jug standing on a stool.

I painted a very subdued background as the colours and motif of the scarf were loud enough … a bit of a calming down for the eyes would balanced out the picture, I thought.

If they are not having a bath like in my previous post I was inspired this time by 2 blackbirds up in the sky, perched on the winter trees in Valbonne. I liked the row of trees and cars for the perspective effect and as usual I took artistic licence to create a new brand of car , increased the size of the birds and put some colours to brightened up the scene.